The SA National Defence Union said it would be filing criminal charges against former Eskom CEO, Brian Molefe.
This, after it was reported this weekend that Molefe was now an honorary colonel in the SANDF reserve and has been called up for active duty at a reported monthly salary of R57 000 a month.
City Press reported on Sunday that according to internal defence force documents, seen by its sister newspaper Rapport, Molefe had been called up indefinitely for active service, while reserve force members are usually only used for active service for three months at a time.
SANDU national spokesperson, Advocate Pikkie Greeff, said in a statement on Monday that the news that Molefe, an honorary colonel in the SANDF reserve, has been called up for active duty into the SANDF, was perplexing, to say the least.
“An honorary colonel of the SANDF Reserve is not, by law eligible, for call-up into active duty,” he said.
“A valid call-up into active duty requires the incumbent to have a substantive military rank, obtained through military training, and the appropriate qualification(s). It also requires that the officer holds a commissioned rank. Molefe meets none of these requirements”.
Greeff said that “Molefe's call-up is thus unlawful and fraudulent.”
He said it was also outrageous that his pay has been backdated to a date when he was, in fact, not even on active duty, an act which in itself constitutes a separate count of fraud.
Greeff said, “it is incredulous that Molefe is involved in budgetary affairs of the SANDF, which inevitably provides him access to classified information when he holds no security classification as is required by the Defence Act.”
“Clearly some elements at managerial level in the SA Army have decided to show benevolence to Molefe in what is nothing else but a jobs-for-pals scandal. The Chief of the SA Army is hereby challenged to show the legality of Molefe's call-up,” he said.
Greeff SANDU will file criminal charges this coming week against Molefe and further demand that his call-up is withdrawn immediately, failing which it will take the necessary legal action.
Meanwhile, the South African Security Forces Union said it noted “with shock media reports” that Molefe was a Colonel in the SANDF.
SASFU, a new trade union, said that “it is our view that this is a case of corruption and we call on the minister to reverse this decision and recover all monies paid to Mr Molefe and launch an investigation into this matter and take appropriate action.”
The Union said that President Jacob Zuma, as Commander In Chief of the Armed Forces, should investigate this matter and take appropriate action against anyone involved “in these shenanigans.”
